Freezing FAQ

Updated onOctober 16, 2018

When it comes to freezing, there are so many topics related to it that questions about the method always crop up time and time again! Want to know more about freezing? In this guide, I have outlined the answers to some of the most common questions about freezing:

Is Refreezing Food Dangerous?

In almost any article about freezing food, there is always a warming that refreezing food is a big no-no. That you should never freeze again any piece of food that’s already been frozen and thawed because of food-borne poisoning risk. But is re-freezing really as dangerous as some people claim?

The Washington State Department of Health disagrees. In the linked article, it says that you can refreeze raw food like meat, poultry, etc., as long as the food has been thawed in the refrigerator. If the food has been thawed on the counter, it should be cooked immediately and re-freezing the thawed food is not safe. Similar information can be found on the website of the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources. According to these resources, refreezing food is safe as long as the food has been thawed properly, i.e. in the fridge. There’s even a New York Times article that debunks that myth.

As you can tell by now, the idea that you shouldn’t refreeze thawed food is just a myth. As long as you defrost food in the fridge, it’s safe to refreeze the unused portion. Obviously, we don’t always have the time to wait a couple of hours for food to thaw in the refrigerator. That’s why in our articles we highlight other thawing options too.

The easiest way to avoid having the need to refreeze food is to freeze it in portion-sized packages. This way, you can easily thaw as much as you need at a time.

Is Microwaving Food Bad for You?

While CanYouFreezeThis.com focuses on preserving food for longer by freezing, we love sharing a few tips related to healthy living every now and then.

The safety of microwaving food is a topic of an ongoing debate. There are people out there claiming that microwave ovens kill the nutrients in your food, which makes the food toxic. Others claim that microwaving foods could increase the risk of certain cancers. Some health experts dispute these claims for lack of evidence. So what’s the truth behind this? Is microwaving really dangerous?

Fortunately for microwave oven users, it seems that pretty much all of the fears related to microwaving foods are unfounded and there’s really nothing to be afraid of. If you’re interested in learning about how microwaving food works in terms of physics, check out this great article at Legion Athletics. Here are some of the takeaways from that article:

The radiation used by microwaves to warm up food is safe and doesn’t do your food much harm (it’s about as harmful as other cooking methods)

Microwaving plastic containers repeatedly may cause plastic chemicals to leach into microwaved food. To fix this, either switch to glass containers for microwaving or buy new plastic ones once if the plastic containers you’re using are worn out.